The Gillian Anderson FAQ

Edition 2.0.3
3/30/97

Quick note: I got tired of the GAFAQ being three
years out-of-date (at least every version I've seen on the net), so I decided
to update it myself. This can be freely distributed this around the net--as
a matter of fact, I'd prefer it. Please keep the credits intact, though.
Thanks!

1.
Who is Gillian Anderson?

Gillian Anderson is an actress primarily known
for playing Special Agent Dana Scully on the Fox Network's The X-Files.
In the United States, the show was originally on Friday nights. However,
in the fall of 1996, it was moved to Sunday night.

2.
How is Gillian pronounced?

Jill'-ee-un.

3.
Where does she come from?

Gillian was born on August 9, 1968 in Chicago,
Illinois, to Edward and Rosemary Anderson, and is one of three children.
She lived in Puerto Rico, and then in London, so her father could attend
a film school there (her family still owns a flat there). At age eleven
she moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she attended elementary and
then high school.

She then moved to Chicago where she went to college.
Once she gained her BFA, she moved to New York, New York. where she made
several theater performances and then to Los Angeles in about '91/'92.

Upon gaining the role of Dana Scully, Gillian
then relocated to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, where she now resides
with her daughter, Piper.

4.
What is her educational background?

Gillian attended Fountain Elementary, then City
High in Grand Rapids, Michigan. After graduating in 1986 she moved to Chicago
and attended the Goodman Theater School at DePaul University (a major theater
conservatory), in Chicago, IL where she obtained her Bachelor of Fine Arts
degree. While attending DePaul, she also studied at the summer program
at the National Theater of Great Britain at Cornell University in Ithaca,
NY.

6.
Is Gillian married?

Yes, after an engagement that lasted "shorter
than a month but longer then a week." Her husband is Clyde Klotz,
a former X-Files crewmember. They were married on New Years Day
1994 in Hawaii. Says Gillian, "We kept it very, very small. In fact,
it was just the two of us and a Buddhist priest on the 17th hole of this
golf course in Hawaii"

Unfortunately (or not, who am I to say), Ms. Anderson
and Mr. Klotz separated in October of 1996. This news was made public on
January 13, 1997 in a British tabloid, and was confirmed by Ms. Anderson's
publicist the next day. Since then, GA has been the subject of many tabloid
rumors (including a Hard Copy piece in which she was called a "sexpot")
about a supposed relationship with Adrian Hughes, a guest on the fourth
season episode "Home."

7.
Was Gillian pregnant?

She was, yes. Gillian was due on the September
13,1994 and gave birth on twenty-fifth. The last episode in which she appeared
pregnant was episode six of Season two ("Ascension"). She missed
the seventh episode (Scully was abducted by entites basically still unknown),
and returned to work a mere ten days later.

8.
What is her child named?

Gillian gave birth by Cesarean on the 09/25/94,
to a baby girl, 8 lb. 10 oz, named Piper Maru Anderson.

9.
What about her family?

Her parents are Edward and Rosemary Anderson,
both in their early to mid-fifties. Edward Anderson runs a movie postproduction
company and Rosemary is a computer analyst (People, October 9, 1995).
Gillian is the oldest of three children. Her younger siblings are brother
Aaron and sister Zoë.

Aaron Anderson has Neurofibromatosis, a diease
Rosemary and Gillian are dedicated to stopping.

unpredictable and has varying manifestations
and degrees of severity. NF is an autosomal

dominant genetic condition in which only 50%
of those affected have a prior family history of NF.

Currently, NF has no treatment other than thesurgical
removal of tumors which may some times

grow back."

For more information, and to possibly make a donation,
please go to the NF,
Inc. homepage.

10.
How did she get into acting? How did she get the role of Dana Scully?

After initially wanting to be a marine biologist,
at about age seventeen, she was in "a couple of auditions" in
the Grand Rapids Community Theater, where she was "cast in a couple
of things," and from then it was as if she "had never thought
about marine biology."

While studying for her Bachelor of Fine Arts at
DePaul University, Gillian spent some time in the National Theater of Great
Britain. After receiving her degree, she moved to New York and embarked
on a serious career in theater--including an off-Broadway production of
Alan Ayckbourne's "Absent Friends," for which she won a 1991
Theater World Award. She also performed in "The Philanthropist"
at the Long Wharf Theater in New Haven.

Gillian then moved to Los Angeles and spent a
year auditioning for various things, during which time she appeared in
the cable movie The Turning and did the audiocassette version of
Ann Rice's Exit to Eden.

Although she had once vowed she would "never
do TV,"and seemed set on a career in film or theater, being out of
work for a year or so changed her mind. She had a role in episode eight
of the long-since-cancelled Fox show Class of '96 and then was impressed
enough by the role of Dana Scully that she auditioned for the part.

"The chance to play FBI Special Agent Dana
Scully was the series's key attraction, I was reading something that for
the first time in a long time involved a strong, independent intelligent
woman as a lead character." -GA

The auditioning went well, and X-Files creator
Chris Carter decided to cast Gillian in the role. The network (Fox) disagreed,
wanting to cast someone with more TV experience (who looked, of course,
more like a "bimbo"). Fox flew in more actresses from New York,
but Carter stood his ground, and they cast Gillian as Special Agent Dana
Scully. Gillian, who was also somewhat surprised at being cast, said "I
was convinced they were looking for someone leggier, and with a bigger
chest." (Thank God for Chris Carter and small miracles . . . )

Gillian enjoys working on the show, even if it
was and is stressful. She sees the recognition she has been getting as
a great step which will open many doors for her, as her goal is to do some
more theater as well as feature and independent films eventually.

Since gaining the role of Dana Scully, GA has
won several acting awards, including a Screen Actor's Guild Award and Golden
Globe Award for Best Actress in a Drama Series.

11.
What is Gillian's view on the phenomena covered on the show?

A quote from GA can sum it up better than I could
. . .

"The more I get comfortable with the character,
the more she's becoming like me in some of her mannerisms. I'm not that
much of a skeptic. I do believe in UFOs, I do believe in certain paranormal
phenomena, like ESP and psychokinesis and all that. I've always been fascinated
with it and I think, on a certain level, I've just known or assumed it
to be reality. In that respect we're very different. I think that I have
a tendency to get as single-minded and obsessed with my work as Dana does,
but in a different way. She's a medical doctor and an FBI agent and I'm
an actress."

Also, Gillian has said that when she was in Hawaii
getting married she spent a lot of time watching the sky looking for "them,"
and that she is "a full fledged believer" in addition to being
"one of the least straight-laced people you will ever meet."

So, yes, it's safe to say Gillian's view on such
phenomenon is that anything is possible.

12.
What is Gillian Anderson like?

From all reports, she is a very intelligent, hardworking,
and charming woman with an easygoing and bubbly personality (in other words,
a heartbreaker to us guys) who genuinely enjoys her work. Even though she
finds the schedule of working in a weekly show to be very stressful, you
wouldn't guess it from her consistently exemplary performances. She is
also very open and honest and possesses a quirky and charming sense of
humor.

Glen Morgan has referred to her as "very
smart" and Chris Carter is also impressed by how hardworking she is
(she was at work each day up until two days before her daughter's birth).

13.
Now that's she's famous the world around, what does she think of the fame?

She's quite flabbergasted by the whole thing.
Her fame pretty much started on the Internet, but it really spread from
there. She does know the GATB, GAEB, and other on-line groups exist. This
is what she once said about the GATB . . .

(re: GATB) "Anderson is surprised, though
she says it's flattering. 'It's something I certainly didn't expect,' she
says, 'Especially with Scully. She's independent and she's passionate about
her work. The character is not just a little bit of those attributes, she's
very much so. I find it terrific that some people should find that stimulating.'"
(Julianne Lee, Starlog Platinum November 1994?)

"And while the actors aren't quite so computer
literate, they are aware of the attention. 'I've been told that on one
of the computer services there's something called the Gillian Anderson
Testosterone Brigade,' says Anderson with a laugh. 'That just tickles me.'"
(Steve Pond, Sacramento Bee , October 9, 1994)